


Whims of Culture (Swoop Like Vultures)

by darthjamtart



Category: Books of the Raksura - Martha Wells
Genre: F/M, Gen, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-08-06
Updated: 2015-08-06
Packaged: 2018-04-13 05:20:25
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,810
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4509360
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/darthjamtart/pseuds/darthjamtart
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>“You need to stop monopolizing your consort,” Pearl said.</p>
<p>Jade took another slow, dignified sip of tea. “I don’t know what you mean,” she said. Next to and slightly behind Pearl, Ember already looked deeply discomfited by the topic of conversation. Jade hid a smile behind her teacup.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Whims of Culture (Swoop Like Vultures)

**Author's Note:**

  * For [pentapus](https://archiveofourown.org/users/pentapus/gifts).
  * Inspired by [Children of the New Court](https://archiveofourown.org/works/559307) by [pentapus](https://archiveofourown.org/users/pentapus/pseuds/pentapus). 



> Thanks to my beta, without whom this story would be a total disaster.

Jade knew she wasn’t going to enjoy the conversation as soon as Pearl offered her tea. As a preamble to an uncomfortable topic, it was more subtle than some of Pearl’s gambits, but Jade assumed that was due to Ember’s mellowing influence. He was hunched nervously over the teapot, in any case, and poured Jade a steaming cup of some new brew that smelled exquisite.

“Is this from Emerald Twilight?” Jade asked. “It’s delicious.”

Ember smiled shyly at her, but before he could answer, Pearl cut to the chase.

“You need to stop monopolizing your consort,” she said.

Jade took another slow, dignified sip of tea. “I don’t know what you mean,” she said. Next to and slightly behind Pearl, Ember already looked deeply discomfited by the topic of conversation. Jade hid a smile behind her teacup.

“You know exactly what I mean,” Pearl said, her tail twitching slightly. “The Arbora have been sighing all over the place about the lack of mentor births—”

“They can’t even tell yet if any of of the last clutch will be mentors!” Jade interrupted. Pearl glared at her.

“Nevertheless, does Moon even know what’s expected of him?” Pearl asked. 

“Of course he does,” Jade lied. Pearl’s frills fluttered in amusement.

“Very well, then. By the time we have a new royal clutch, I’ll expect to see at least one or two new mentors.”

It probably wasn’t meant as a dig at how long it was taking Jade and Moon to clutch, but Jade still had to take care setting down her teacup, so it wouldn’t rattle. If she’d felt even the tiniest bit more spiteful, she’d have asked why Ember wasn’t fulfilling his duties to the court, but that would have been cruel — Ember would have felt pressured, and Pearl probably wouldn’t even care. Besides, sweet, shy Ember, the perfect consort, would clutch with the Arbora in time. In a few turns, perhaps. 

Casting Ember a baleful look, Jade left the room.

*

“Why does Ember flinch every time you enter a room he’s in?” Balm asked a few days later.

Jade gave a dismissive ripple of her wings. “He’s very delicate,” she said vaguely, and then pretended not to notice Balm staring at her. 

“Right,” Balm said after a moment. “Anyway, Ember’s not the consort I wanted to talk to you about.”

“Oh, not this again,” Jade said. She sighed and gestured for Balm to continue. 

“You know I think Moon is a wonderful first consort,” Balm said, which really wasn’t at all reassuring. 

“But,” Jade prompted.

“But,” Balm agreed. “You know how the other courts will see it, when they send delegations.”

Jade slumped, then leaned into Balm when her clutchmate edged closer. “I can’t say anything,” Jade muttered. “He’ll get all tense and moody and think I’m rejecting him.”

“I know,” Balm said soothingly. “I don’t want to change Moon, either, just—”

“He’s a consort, not a frightened rabbit.”

Balm flinched upright, startled, and Stone jumped down from whatever nook he’d been lurking in. Jade breathed steadily and pretended she’d known Stone was there the entire time. Queens had to radiate a sense of calm wisdom in all sorts of situations, after all.

Grasping at the remains of her dignity, Balm said, “Are you offering to demonstrate proper consort behavior, then?”

Jade closed her eyes. “Oh, that’s a _terrible_ idea.” She ducked the light swat Stone aimed at her head and tugged Balm back down.

“If you want Moon to dress up for visitors and show up at the right time for court events, you’ll need to make that someone else's job, not mine.” Stone glanced wryly at the well-worn fabric of his own outfit. “Traditionally, a warrior clutchmate could be assigned as a sort of bodyguard, but given Moon’s relatives…”

Jade had developed a grudging respect for Malachite and would even, if pressed, admit to liking Celadon. But even if Moon had had any surviving warrior clutchmates, Jade couldn’t imagine them being anything but trouble. Moon’s whole bloodline seemed to be a magnet for danger. She communicated these reservations to Stone by staring at him dubiously.

“Another favorite would also be traditional enough,” Stone conceded.

As far as Jade was aware, Moon hadn’t shown any particular inclination toward anyone other than Chime. It was a point of pride, almost — not that she’d have minded if Moon had been sleeping with other warriors, or any of the Arbora. But having claimed and fought other queens for him (even if Moon had an annoying tendency to intercede in said fights), Jade couldn’t deny the thrill of finding Moon so often in her bower, the rush of possessiveness she felt looking down at him in his groundling form, golden and vulnerable and _hers_.

Something of what she was thinking about must have been obvious, because Stone gave her a knowing look. Jade flushed and shook out her frills.

“Tell Chime he has some new responsibilities,” Jade said to Balm, who wrinkled her nose in response.

“Why me?” she complained.

“You brought it up,” Jade informed her, more gleeful than sympathetic. 

“Chime’s almost as touchy as a consort, these days,” Balm muttered, then she froze, peeking at Stone. Fortunately, Stone just seemed amused, and Balm fled before she could dig herself in any deeper.

*

If Moon had slept with any single Arbora more than once, Jade might have intervened sooner, but as it was, she kept remembering her conversation with Pearl every time she was faced with her empty bower. _It’s for the good of the court,_ she reminded herself. It was some consolation, however small, that Chime seemed just as disgruntled by the situation. At least she wasn’t the only Aeriat going unsatisfied.

It was harder, though, to hear of each successful clutch, when she’d been _trying_ for so long, with no results. Pearl never seemed concerned; if anything, she seemed more pleased than usual. But then, no one expected her and Ember to have a clutch anytime soon, if ever.

She lost her patience abruptly upon the realization that her cozy nest of blankets and cushions no longer smelled like consort and sex. Any trace of Moon’s presence had dissipated over the several weeks of his absence, and Jade flung herself from her bower, restless and _hungry,_ itching to claim what was hers.

Moon was lounging in the teacher’s hall, and the heaping plate of delicacies in front of him suggested that even mealtime had turned into a competition, as though Moon could be coaxed from one Arbora to another based on who provided the tastiest morsels. Jade was pleased to note that Moon seemed less than impressed with the latest offerings — when Blossom held up a sweetened pastry, Moon tensed faintly before accepting it with an air of resignation.

Jade considered apologizing for the interruption, but Moon’s gaze had snapped to her as soon as she entered the hall, and anyway, it was far past her turn. He was in his groundling form, and it was no effort at all for her to simply scoop him up, throw him over her shoulder, pivot on her heel, and carry him away.

She should have done it weeks ago, really. Set him up in a private bower somewhere, no responsibilities or distractions. Her spines flicked at the image her mind conjured up.

“Is this really necessary?” Moon asked, half muffled by her shoulder. She nipped at his waist, and he relaxed against her, arousal coloring his scent.

“I thought you liked that pastry,” Jade commented, and Moon made an amused sort of grumbling noise.

“I _did,_ until the Arbora noticed and started feeding it to me twenty times a day.”

“You can say no,” Jade pointed out. “To the sweets, and anything else.”

Moon shrugged, and by then she’d reached her bower, so she dumped him onto a pile of blankets and then hesitated when she normally would have pounced.

Moon scowled up at her. “I know I can,” he said, irritable and perfect. “But it’s not a problem.”

He reached for her, and Jade was almost too distracted to consider what Moon _would_ consider a problem. Possibly nothing short of a fatal injury. Well, she’d known what she was getting into. Determining to deal with it later, she let herself be quite thoroughly distracted by his scent and touch for the remainder of the night.

*

She woke the next day to an intrusion and experienced a moment of confused irritation before realizing who it was. Watching Chime try to turn Moon into a respectable-looking consort was an unexpected delight, and when Moon chose to wear her courting gift rather than more decadent jewelry, she almost pulled him back down and to hell with the monthly meet.

For all that he’d grown up in Indigo Cloud, Chime was negotiating his place in their court just as much as Moon. Watching them interact, Jade could see the shape of the court she would one day rule: different and new and very, very pretty. The red and gold jewelry shone dramatically against Moon’s dark scales, and Chime’s coloring was offset nicely by his own collection of green and blue bracelets. Chime’s jewelry also matched Moon’s eyes, Jade noticed.

It might have been easier if Chime had transformed into a consort, instead of a warrior, Jade mused. Then he and Moon could have been expected to be curled together in the consort’s bower at any given time. Chime made a frustrated noise, and Jade couldn’t help but smile. Her prissy consort, and his favorite, equally as prissy in his own way.

*

Gossip spread quickly through the court, but when Jade and Moon finally clutched, it was as though half the Arbora had just been waiting in the doorway. She couldn’t go anywhere in the entire mountain-tree without the whole room lighting up, every Raksura deliriously happy at the prospect of a royal clutch.

Jade wanted to murder all of them within two days.

“Ah, I remember my first clutch,” Pearl told her, all pride and pleasure. It could have been the nicest conversation Jade had shared with her in turns, but instead Jade found herself snarling and launching into flight, angling up and _out._

Balm found her hours later, crouched on a platform not far from where Moon was helping some teachers with the fledglings. “You can’t avoid everyone the entire time you’re carrying,” Balm said, ruthlessly pragmatic.

“Watch me,” Jade snapped, then subsided when Balm threw an arm around her, claws scratching gently behind Jade’s neck.

“She means well,” Balm said, because of course everyone knew about Jade’s conversation with Pearl. For a tree the size of a mountain, sometimes their court could seem terribly small.

“For once,” Jade grumbled, but with no real heat. Her wings flapped, a quick breeze rising to nudge them off the platform, and she let Balm lead her home.

**Author's Note:**

> Dear pentapus, it was an absolute privilege to get to remix your work, and I hope you enjoy what I've done with it. Also I meant to have an actual Jade/Moon/Chime scene in there, but I ran out of time, so consider this an IOU for like 3k of threesome fic in the future.


End file.
